Earthquake Japan 11 March 2011

March 14th, 2011

Japan experienced a 9.0 Magnitude Quake just off the coast of Sendai on Friday afternoon.  This 5-minute quake eclipsed the worst quake recorded since 1900 and follows a pattern of plate techtonics on a massive scale.

The area that was energized measures 200 km in breadth and over 500 km in length.  That massive area of sea bed was flipped up 5m under tremendous pressure sending a wall of water hurtling toward the land. 

The 10m high tsunami walls were no match for the 14-17+m high torrent of water that innundated the shoreline and sent boats, homes, cars, and their occupants more than 10km inland. 

The jagged shape of the shoreline funneled the energy of the waves into higher and tighter areas than were scientifically anticipated.  Tens of thousands have gone missing and the ground looks like a war zone…complete disaster and disintegration.

Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers.

For the latest updates, please follow the U.S. Embassy website at http://japan.embassy.gov/

Dylan

Popularity: 13%

The Entertainer Taro Hakase

December 20th, 2010

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In today’s world, it seems that as violin music has fallen from the spotlight, it has diminished to a small clique of avid fans.

Fortunately it has not fallen any further than this! That small clique of fans keeps the embers lit so that we can all enjoy their talent.

A violinist today must struggle against not only the difficulty of playing this beautiful instrument, but also the difficulty to find an active, vibrant audience willing to support their talent.

One of those special artists who has found a large audience is Taro Hakase of Japan. This year he celebrates his 20th year as a performing artist. And today we had the pleasure to be entertained by him at NHK Hall in Shibuya.

Taro Hakase has found his niche and it is a young vibrant plethora of the masses. At first I thought it might just be the hype that brought so many people together. But after being a part of his show (from the audience ) I am convinced there is much more at work here.

Taro’s music spreads the gamut of formats and bounds across generes the way Superman leaps tall buildings in a single bound.
Through skillful arrangement of piano, bass, wind instruments, keyboard, percussion, synthesizers, and a dazzling light show, interspersed with crowd involvement, clapping, dancing, and yes even singing by the crowd, Taro takes the performance above and beyond merely ‘enjoying’ or ‘listening’ to music into that special destination known as entertainment! He is an extraordinary entertainer who knows it is more than just notes that strike a chord. In his own words, he wants to set your heart to vibrato.

In today’s concert he pitched his new CD and DVD heavily but with a flair for enthusiasm that made his blatent sales pitch almost humble and something you looked forward to between songs.

He must be doing something right! After two nearly non-stop hours of music and pure entertainment he had whipped the crowd into a frenzy–by the end of the concert he had every one of the 3,500 people in the packed house standing, clapping, dancing, and begging for more…He left the stage and walked back in with 60 kids playing his latest project, Himawari.

You can hear Himawari twice a day everyday on the NHK drama Teppan as this is the theme song for the program.

And in full disclosure I must mention that my son was one of the fortunate kids who managed to play in the surprise encore on stage in front of those 3,500 eager spectators.

A great entertainer. Taro Hakase.

Thank you Taro. And Merry Christmas!

D

Popularity: 21%

Slovakia plays Japan

November 23rd, 2010

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The beautiful Tokyo Opera City!  (I had to duck several eager attendants who tried diligently to keep me from taking this photo…really a beautiful hall and the sound was wonderful.  But what were we doing in this hall?  How about I tell you the story about how we met  Tomas, a talented Czech violinist that we met by chance.

Tomas was here in Japan with the Slovakia Radio Philharmonic.  He originally hails from Czecho but moved to Slovakia last year to play in the Philharmonic.  And what talent he brings!  We met Tomas as he was wandering around the Shibuya area.  He stopped by and observed some kids and their violin lessons.  Naturally, we got to talking and learned about his trip and their schedule.

Those of you who know me know that I believe that life is not so much the destination as it is the journey. And on this journey called life I have had the great fortune to meet many talented and wonderful people. This was one of those awesome moments.

With his busy tour schedule he did not have much free time, but he gave us an open invitation to attend his final performance in Tokyo. We parted, but kept in contact via e-mail.  We tried to arrange time to meet in Tokyo before his peformance, but there just was no room in his schedule.

And so, a week after we first met, I packed up the family and we headed out to Tokyo Opera City to listen to the Slovakia Radio Philharmonic play their swan song to a packed house. Thanks to his invitation, we had wonderful seats! 

And what a performance it was! Every person in that hall was moved by the tremendous power and beauty of the full stage of 80+ members who poured their heart and soul into the music that evening. 80+ musicians eager to return home after more than 40 days on the road, happy to see such a packed audience, and feeding off the energy of the crowd, they played their best, most powerful concert of the tour. The show was at once a success.

The orchestra even wowed those in attendance with *two* encores and had the crowd clapping along for their final piece of truly entertaining melodies. Standing ovation and thunderous clapping.  The hall echoed with shouts of “BRAVO” from every corner!

After that tremendous show we met  Tomas for tea and dinner.  He also invited a few friends and the first clarinent also joined us.  We all enjoyed each other’s company tremendously over good food and great conversation.  Of course, I will have to mention his awesome friends in another post, but I’m sure you will enjoy that just as much!

But alas, as soon as we really grew to enjoy each other….the night was soon over.

Parting is always sweet sorrow…sad to be leaving, but glad to have met.

Through music, we are all connected. In music we transcend language. We enter the zone of pure thought. Pure emotions. Expressions through page after page of hundreds and thousands of notes from dozens of instruments blended together to bring us all together if just for an instant.

Individuals make a difference.

We must never lose the music in our lives or in our hearts. Play on Tomas. Play on.

Your fans, D, Family & Friends

Popularity: 21%

Arrow eco delivery

November 22nd, 2010

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Somewhere around Yotsuya I saw a unique looking bike. It was longish with mountain bike like fork, tiny rear wheel and bright blue with some white under what looked to be a humongous box…The rider was moving steadily through the traffic and did something rather unique…he stopped at the red light and waited for it to turn green before proceeding!  Looking closer at his elongated bike with the little wheel in back, I noticed the word ARROW clearly woven in as part of the bike frame….So naturally I dropped in to visit my friend Google to see what they would have to say for themselves.  I found the above photo and a couple of notes about the company.

Of course I’m sharing that with you now!

Turns out this bike was specially made for Tokyo Arrow delivery company trying to lead in ecological thinking by using only human-powered transportation. (Not even battery/motor assist bikes pass their stringent eco rules!)  This extra-long bike was just one of their unique ideas and deep thinking in a very congested field.  

Arrow believes they can provide better and faster service in the congested and narrow Tokyo megalopolis streets through purpose build bikes and human powered innovation. Their competition? The ubiquitous gasoline-powered messenger motorcycles. Their catch phrase? No smoke, no noise, no gasoline…and they pass the savings on to you while getting to your destination in rapid time.

If nothing else, they make unique cycles.

D reporting from his Xperia while on the Ginza line…

Popularity: 11%

Shamisen da yo!

November 22nd, 2010

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I was getting on a train in Misawa, Japan when I saw an interesting “violin” case. I say violin case because that’s what I’m familiar with and it looked like an oversize one of those. Inside was a shamisen. And putting it gently away was none other than Kevin Kmetz! We chatted for a second or two before he had to jump on his train. I hung around for a little while longer and chatted with his charming mom! You can check out his YouTube Channel  and a couple of official websites: God of Shamisen and his EMI page!  Wish you much continued success Kevin!

Enjoy!

D posting from the Marunouchi line somewhere under the Tokyo Megalopolis.

Popularity: 10%

A New Xperia Xperience

November 12th, 2010

Refreshing news…finally.  The Sony Ericsson Xperia works better now.   After installing the Android 2.1 update, my Xperia picked up some speed, and feels more complete.  I had some trouble spots during my upgrade, but eventually reached a happy conclusion.   Things are working great now.  So I’m sure you are wondering….what changed?  What’s new?

First, the obvious:  The home screen grew by two screens on each side to give you a total of 5 home screens.  Respectable.   Each screen now has an extra row of four icons…Makes sense…the screen was big enough: so 5 home screens, 20 apps per screen.  The dedicated App tray is no longer a pull out tray….it is a tap to open button.  And the unlock is a normal slide rather than an arc across the screen…

Next, the less than obvious: Google can now handle more than one mail account.  Music apps actually work! (i.e. when you press the piano key, or the drums, or the guitar, the sound plays right away without a little nagging delay…’bout time!…).  The screen seems much sharper to my eyes…might be a trick of the brain, but the fonts seem slightly larger and definitely crisper.   You can install live wallpapers and you have access to many, many more apps under 2.1 compared to the limited number of 1.6 apps.  Others have reported increased battery life, but I won’t know for sure until a couple more days have passed.  The video mode has continuous focus and HD capability.  The browser grabs a screen shot to save in your Bookmarks collection…so you get a panel of screen shots making it easy to find your bookmarked pages!

But the bad news:  No Flash capability and no multitouch.  Mediascape is supposed to be better but is still far short of the Android Gallery App.  And for the Japanese user who inputs English text, the Sony POBox Touch or the Standard Keyboard still fall way short of the mark for ease of use.  And what’s up with the two rows of all caps NTT DOCOMO | NTT DOCOMO?!  Hello!? And where did my silent mode button go? 

O.K.  delving a little deeper.

I began my upgrade Xperience on 10 Nov at 9 pm.  The release was scheduled for 6 pm so I had no trouble getting the Sony Ericsson Update Service to recognize that I had an older version of the software.  I opted for the upgrade and keep my configuration rather than the upgrade and reset to factory configuration.  Naturally, I used the backup utility first to save all of my settings (all?  well not quite all…)  Then I upgraded without trouble and in 19 minutes my phone stated it was 2.1 and ready to go.  I went from Android 1.6, Baseband version 1.0.24, Kernel 2.6.29 -relsemc, Build R1EA025 ….to….  Android 2.1, Baseband version 2.0.47, Kernel 2.6.29 SEMCVSer@SEMCHost, Build 2.0.B.0.138.  But all those numbers are not important…what I thought was important was that little number under Android version….I was now Android 2.1…    I powered on and off a few times after the full install to make sure the system was ready to roll….

But not so fast…I decided to run some benchmark tests to compare it to my original 1.6 version.  I loaded up quadrant and compared 5 test runs with my previous 5 test runs.  When I was running Android 1.6, I scored 437 or 436 fairly consistently.  Now, with this brand new build of Android, my test scores vaired from a low of 421 to a high of 492…hmmm…something fishy….the variability didn’t make sense….And some of my apps would not run properly (Smart Keyboard would not power up even though it was selected)….I could not download new apps, they all failed.  I could receive calls, but I could not locate anyone in my address book.  Dialer would lock up if I tried to look for a contact.  And a number of other unrelated failures.  I went into denial.  No one else commented about trouble during the upgrade, so I tried to pretend that my problems would go away if I just ignored them.  So after a several hour bike ride, I came back to the realization that the upgrade had not gone well for Dylan.  There was no way around it…I would have to do a full reinstall to initial factory settings.  Grrrr…

So I grit my teeth and got to work.  A full reinstall takes just a few minutes more than the original install, but it gave me everything I needed for a clean finish.  Everything was working as it should.  And with a clean install, I ran quadrant a few times and came up with scores of 529 – 531.  Much more consistent and much better than the system under 1.6.  So the feeling of speed is not just in my head.  (BTW, graphics in the quadrant standard benchmark test seemed to run smoother and brighter too…)  I had no trouble downloading and reinstalling my apps.  And the App Market had lots of new apps that I was not able to view when I was running 1.6.   

The Camera runs more smoothly.  Initial startup is still slow, but the shutter appears to release faster after taking less time to focus. You still have to wait for the previous photo to be saved before you can take a new photo, but that processing seems to have been speeded up considerably.  The video mode now includes HD video and continuous focusing.  The continuous focusing is nice and fairly smooth.  It makes the video operation seamless. Still have to turn on the light each time you start up the camera.  It does not save this mode for you.  Nor does it “guess” when you need it…bummer.

Seems the screen goes to sleep a lot faster…I wonder if that is how they extend the battery life? 

There are Backed-Up Apps, and then there are all the other Apps.

Did I mention I backed up everything?  Well it turns out that the backup tool DOES NOT backup UNPAID apps.  All the paid apps are fine…at least those that are still listed.  But unpaid apps…the hundreds of unpaid apps that I downloaded from the market and use so often?  Those apps were not stored in the Downloads folder.  I had to try to remember the proper titles and go back out and find them. I still think I’m missing quite a few.  I actually took the time to record every single downloaded app in my notes, but still….why wouldn’t the backup software include these free apps…is there a hidden message from Google? 

SE is Still Disappointing in many ways.

Mediascape is still slow to load, slow to enlarge selected photos and slow to move to the next photo. If you’ve ever done this on an iPhone, you wonder how the folks at SE could not get this one right.  As a matter of fact, to cover their tracks, the programmers at SE went to the extra trouble to hide, bury, and stash away the perfectly good Android Gallery App.  I didn’t even know there was a Gallery App on my phone.  And it works great!  Want to see how good?  Go to the Add a Widget, Scroll down to Photo Frame (??????) and have a look around.  This is the Android Gallery App.  Nice huh?  Smooth scrolling images, quick to load, easy to see your photos…(only too bad you can’t organize the folders from this app).  Anyway, if you try to add this app to your desktop, or try to look for it in your app tray you will notice it is “missing”.  Hmmm….I checked under the system management tool for Managing Apps and it is sitting right there.  Yet it is not anywhere to be found from the launcher….Thanks SE…But not to worry fans, you can get an app that will bring this right to your desktop…you just need an App Installer, and the XDA Developers APK that brings the Gallery App out of hiding…Check out the story here:  www.xperia10.net/2010/11/07/tired-of-mediascape-get-access-to-the-3d-gallery/

Adobe Flash Viewer on 2.1? I know, I know, some phones you can download a workaround for Flash and run Flash on 2.1.  I tried, I installed, but none of the several Flash Sites could I see…none.  Hello SE?  I’ll even spare you the trouble of looking for the link and trying.  It doesn’t seem to work.  (But if you find a way, let me know and I’ll be glad to edit this portion!)

New row of Quick buttons….Nice color, increased to 5 buttons…but I lost my silent mode button, picked up a sync button and a screen lighting button…hmm.  The power button kit looks nice and adds a battery status, airplane mode switch, silent mode, GPS, and data roaming quick setting switch.  But there are no settings to edit either of these two choices…what happened to the people’s choice?

NO GOOGLE EARTH…come on…I thought this was one of the big improvements in moving to 2.1.  Tried and tired again. No luck.  No Google Earth.  (But the new Google Maps has an AWESOME Navi feature….rivals the awesome Navi in my car.  Plus, the navi in my car only gets an update once every two years.  The Google Navi seems updated a lot faster!  Now I just need a place to mount my Xperia on my car and also on my biycle!  Ideas anyone?  Anyone have a recommended upper arm/ shoulder case for jogging with the Xperia?

Summary

All in all, the update made my phone run faster.  The update process ran smooth….except for the part where it did not run smooth…but a repeat of the install made it behave and work well. Now, post 2.1 install, there are more apps to chose from…A good thing.  (I still could not find Google Earth though….).  Angry Birds runs smoother and with fewer bugs under 2.1.  Of the basic apps, the independent, non-Google and non-SE apps still provide excellent value.  In particular, I name a few of my favorites (in no particular order).  These are the ones that I cannot run my phone without.  They are an integral part of each Android day: 
Smart Keyboard – If you type in English and Japanese on your Xperia (or other languages) this one keyboard makes typing a breeze. The autocorrect function just works…the Standard SE Keyboard, makes you work….Smart Keyboard even has a calibration option and a tracker to let you know where your fingers are actually touching the screen.  It just works better all around.
Android Gallery – So much better than Mediascape.  I don’t know why I never found it before…oh that’s right, SE hid it from me.
K-9 Mail – It works.  And it keeps getting better.  It works with so many account types.  It has so many ways to make it fit your style.  It works better than the Google G-Mail…And I like G-mail…but not the app.  K-9 Mail makes e-mailing from Android easy again.
Jorte – Wow.  It syncs with Google Calendar, but it interfaces with me so much better.  Now I just have to figure out how to link it to my Outlook Calendar….

I promise, my next post will not be about this phone. Really. 

Just as I finished typing this post, I got an e-mail from DoCoMo…they were letting me know that version 2.1 was released.  I wonder if there were still Xperia users out there in Japan not aware that this was on the horizon…..Not impossible, but seems unlikely….

Time to move on and return to life before this “invented” excitement found its way into my daily activities.  I still miss having Flash and Google Earth.  HELLO SE?!  And can I get a better, more response (shutter lag time, light sensitivity, etc….)

Cheers,  Dylan

Popularity: 29%

Not til 6pm

November 10th, 2010

The Japan Xperia update scheduled for 10 Nov begins around 6 pm….and to think I waited up to be one of the first to install and test right at midnight….I know….just in case it might be good to try….I did….it’s not ready yet….I’ll check again after work and be sure to report back here…

1.6 in Tokyo and still waiting for Flash. At least soon I will learn about Angry Birds first hand…but not until after 6 pm…. See Screen Shot below….note it says the time could be 6 pm give or take an hour or so…..The waiting continues…

Of course, soon it will be all over and then we will then be clamoring for 2.2…..Hello SE?? Hellooo?

Screen Shot of Docomo Site

Popularity: 15%

Waiting for 2.1

November 9th, 2010

So I find myself anticipating that on 25 hours I will have the 2.1 update for my Xperia. I will still have to figure out a way to view flash…but my first order of business is to get Angry Birds. I don’t quite know what to expect…but they seem to be everywhere.

Nicki just sent me a link, all the Xperia sites mention it and just the other day I saw a three year old rocking the house down on his dad’s iPhone…he was playing angry birds. So I have to try….

Popularity: 16%

DoCoMo Xperia Upgrade Instructions

November 4th, 2010

http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/support/utilization/software_update/version_up/so01b/pc/index.html

Here are the detailed instructions from the Japanese Xperia service provider.  Curious what time on the tenth they will open up the download service…

Dylan

Popularity: 18%

DoCoMo Xperia Upgrade Instructions

November 4th, 2010

http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/support/utilization/software_update/version_up/so01b/pc/index.html

Here are the detailed instructions from the Japanese Xperia service provider.  Curious what time on the tenth they will open up the download service…

Dylan

Popularity: 17%